Detrital Zircon U-Pb Dating and Hf Isotopes of the Crocker Fan Sandstones in Sabah, North Borneo: Constraints on Their Provenance and the Tectonic Evolution of Borneo

Abstract

The tectonic evolution of Borneo and the affiliation between Southern and Northern Borneo remains unclear. The Rajang and Crocker Fan sediments, as one of the largest ancient submarine fans in Southeast Asia have witnessed the tectonic evolution of Borneo since at least the late Mesozoic. In this study, we present laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (LA-ICP-MS) U-Pb dating and Hf isotopic results of detrital zircons from the Trusmadi and Crocker formations within the Crocker Fan of Sabah, Northern Borneo. Our results, coupled with previous data, show that the Crocker Fan sediments in Sabah of Northern Borneo display similar age spectra to the Rajang Fan sediments in Sarawak of Central Borneo, with two major age clusters at 130–80 and 280–200 Ma. Further provenance analysis based on mineral shape with a prismatic characteristic and similar detrital zircon Hf isotopes of the two formations illustrates that the Jurassic–Cretaceous and partly Triassic detrital zircons of the Crocker and Rajang Fan sediments were derived from the erosion of contemporaneous magmatic rocks; part of Permian–Triassic ones could be the recycling of the Jurassic deposits in SW Borneo. The initial provenance of these Permian–Triassic detritus could be synchronous magmatic rocks in the Tin belt of the Malay Peninsula. Combining with previous data, we propose that the entire Borneo continent, including both Southern and Northern Borneo, developed a common Mesozoic continental magmatic arc. Moreover, we postulate that the Rajang and Crocker fans formed in a fore-arc extensional rift basin related to the retreat of the subducted Paleo-Pacific Plate beneath the Northern Borneo margin.

Keywords

detrital zircon U-Pb dating / Hf isotope / Crocker Fan / Sabah / Paleo-Pacific / geochemistry / tectonics

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